Science fiction short Last Night by director-writer Ryan Mack presents a situation that starts as a normal in-home massage and rapidly careens into increasingly bizarre territory. A masseur named Michael (Bryan Mittelstadt) shows up for a massage appointment. He is enchanted by his client, Kyle (Jackson Tropp), and the massage soon becomes a sexual encounter.
“Kyle requested Michael, but not for a massage or for sex..”
Later on, Kyle begins acting very strangely toward Michael and tells him he’s a synthetic organism. In other words, Michael is a robot. Kyle requested Michael, but not for a massage or for sex. Michael thinks his new acquaintance is raving mad. The question on the table is whether Michael is something other than human, or is Kyle a mentally ill person? To say more would be to ruin the electric turn of the twist at the end.
This concept has shades of Blade Runner, where there are replicants who do not know their own nature. There’s also a call-back to the synthetic “artificial persons” from the Alien franchise. The production is impeccable, including close-ups of the actors, enough music to set the tone, and everything else gets out of the way and lets the performances do the talking. Last Night is a crazy good short film. Mack lulls you into a soft, hazy moment of intimacy, and then, well, viewers will need to discover the rest for themselves.
"…lulls you into a soft, hazy moment of intimacy..."
